Leonardo (Japanese: レオナルドLeonardo) is a member of the Dawn Brigade and a noble. He starts out as an archer, being first available on turn four during the prologue of Part I. He is best friends with his opposite, Edward.

Promotion stat gains

Analysis

This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience.

Leonardo is the only initial bow user in the Dawn Brigade and joins in the very first chapter. He has good base skill and average base speed, but all of his other base stats are weak. He is also bowlocked and does not have easy access to crossbows in part 1; on top of that, he has very bad durability, so his enemy phase is nonexistent. Throughout part 1, he can only contribute physical chip damage, often less damage than Micaiah and Ilyana due to them using magic.

Due to being a chipper, his rate of experience gain will be very low, so he needs a lot of BEXP support. His only good growths are skill, luck, and resistance; in addition to his stable biorhythm cycle, he will at minimum have very stable and reliable hitrates. His strength and speed will be mediocre through part 3 and 4, so he will often struggle to deal damage and double. He can potentially be a decent mage-killer thanks to his good resistance growth. On the other hand, his bad 2-range offense is mitigated by his unique bow Lughnasadh, available in part 3 (not in the Japanese version), which is very powerful and gives him a +5 speed boost that he desperately needs. He can also one-shot many flying units in part 3. Promotion to Marksman gives him extra range which gives him a useful niche. However, he will often be promoted in part 4 where Shinon and Rolf are also Marksmen superior to Leo, let alone the fact that his only 1-2 range combats are weak crossbows. The main reason to bring him to the Tower of Guidance is so you can give him the Lughnasadh and have another bowman equipped with the Double Bow and/or Brave Bow.

Leo starts with the Cancel skill, which is mostly useless because most of his targets should not counterattack him anyways. Thus it is highly recommended to give the Cancel skill to someone else on the team immediately. He can benefit a lot from Adept, but Adept is speed-based so his activation rate will be low. Beastfoe can work with him and crossbows through part 3, but a promoted Nolan makes better useful of Beastfoe and crossbows thanks to his higher strength and bulk.

Leonardo has a water affinity which gives a boost to attack and defense. He desperately needs more attack, but unfortunately for him the only units through part 1 with attack-boosting affinities are Micaiah and Tormod. Both can work since they have similar backline roles and movement as Leonardo, but Micaiah has better options and Tormod is only available for a few chapters in part 1 before returning extremely late in chapter 4-4. Leo also has a fast support with Nolan; while it doesn't directly benefit Leo, Nolan gets a useful attack and defense boost that he appreciates.

Skill set

Like all male bonus units in Awakening, Leonardo has access to all base class and advanced class skills available to standard male units.

Personality and character

Leonardo is characterized by a subdued and pensive demeanor, having a good composure, in contrast to Edward's energetic personality. He has a strong sense of loyalty to his country, and dislikes the senselessness of wars. He and Edward both seem to look up to Nolan, who acts like a mentor to them.